


The Best Birthday Ever

by Midaxz



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 20:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6344494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midaxz/pseuds/Midaxz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Well, this is vaguely connected to the work. Cass is my OC and in my au is the oracle of camphalfblood. this short story is from Cass's best friend's perspective.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Best Birthday Ever

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is vaguely connected to the work. Cass is my OC and in my au is the oracle of camphalfblood. this short story is from Cass's best friend's perspective.

”Hva i helvetet?!”

The horrible roar causes Billie to wake up with a jerk. They didn’t even had time to process what was going on when the door was kicked open with a loud crash and the storm broke loose inside Billie’s room. “Din jævla drittunge!” the storm roars. With threatening stomps he hovers above them and a big hand grabs around Billie’s throat. “Du tror du er verdt enda en krone?” he screams in their ear. Billie had no idea what was going on or what he was talking about, but they understood that their dad was real angry. He only switched over to Norwegian when he was uncontrollably angry. The grip around Billie’s neck tightened and they tried to signalize to their dad to let loose. “Jeg hater deg! Du er en verdiløs jævla ungen!!” he spat them in the face and turned around, dragging Billie along with him out of the room. “Kom deg ut! Kom deg ut av her og ikke kommer tilbake!” With a powerful force, he flung Billie out through the open front door. They slammed onto the stone floor of the stairway. Panting, they looked up towards their father, right as he violently slammed the door shut. 

Billie sighed, massaged their throat and sat up. They looked down on their feet, shoeless and toes peeking out of big holes of their dirty socks. Dad was always angry with Billie, but it was only on certain occasions he used to lock them out. Billie counted on their fingers. It was fall, so it couldn’t be New Year, and Billie was pretty sure their dad had paid the bills last week. “Oh” Billie exclaimed and stared at their fingers. “It’s my birthday!”

Slowly getting up on their feet, Billie wept away the spit from their face with the bag of their hand. With a last glance at the door to their apartment and they turned around and excited the tenement. Trying to get back into the apartment right away would only make dad even angrier, but if given a few days to settle down, he would go back to ignoring Billie and they would be safe. Billie just had to sleep in the park for a couple of nights.

Dragging their feet behind them in their usual slow walking pace, Billie had taken themselves down the street and into the next. Every now and then a pointy stone or even a shard of glass would slip under Billie’s feet, hurting their soles. But Billie didn’t mind the pain; it kept their brain busy - something else to focus on.   
After a few turns and down a tunnel, Billie had finally arrived. It didn’t look like much, a pretty small building that looked like it needed a renovation, and a dirty school yard that had nothing more than a set of rusty swings and a soccer field with a pair of wooden frames as goals. 

Billie hated the place, but at the same time liked it. They didn’t find school itself very interesting and barely attended any lessons, but they had their best friend there and also there was this opportunity to get lunch. 

Just as they was about to open the main doors, Billie remembered. Face palming and sighing deeply. They had forgotten that their friend wasn’t even in school that day. She was gone attending a funeral of a distant family member no one really cared about, leaving Billie all alone. Their shoulders drooped even more than they usually did; they shuffled away towards the cafeteria. 

The school corridor was dead silent and empty of people, except for the cleaner who was leaning against a wall, humming to the melody of the song that was plugged in his ears. He looked down on Billie as they passed his field of sight. An index finger to his lips and a wink, and he returned to digging his music. Billie nodded and turned around the corner, into the cafeteria. It was also empty, but Billie can hear activity from inside the kitchen. Across the room stood a table with breads of various sorts, which Billie hurried over to. Right as they lifted their hand to grab a slice of bread; they could hear a yell from behind them. Spinning around, Billie spotted one of the lunch ladies in the door opening to the kitchen. She was a grumpy and strict woman in her middle ages who never missed a chance to utter how much she hated children, but it was nothing compared to Billie’s and her friend’s hate towards her. “Go back to class, you naughty child!” the lunch lady yelled and waved a scoop in the air “It’s not lunch yet, you don’t touch those breads!”

Billie snorted, grabbed a bunch of slices and attempted to run towards the exit. To their horror, the lunch lady had foreseen what Billie had thought of doing and had already rushed forward and now blocked their way. She swung her scoop at Billie, who dove down on the floor avoiding it, dropping the bread in the action. The scoop swept through the air again and Billie barely managed to dodge. They slither through the arms of the old lady and leapt. Running as fast as Billie ever had run, they left the lunch lady behind them, who was yelling threats after them. Billie got a strange feeling of familiarity from the old lady’s threats, who could it be that she reminded them of?

The cleaner gave Billie a questioning look, but they ignored him and rushed through the main doors. Crossing the schoolyard and over a fence, Billie crashed down behind a couple of red bushes in someone’s backyard. They hoped that they wouldn’t be found by the ones that lived there, or anyone else for that instance, because they didn’t have any stamina left to run. But Billie was afraid they had jinxed it, because on their birthday everything went wrong. 

Billie laid there for a longer while, trying to calming their breath. Fluffy white clouds drifted slowly in the sky high above, but Billie didn’t see them. They were too busy staying absolute still and quiet. “I just thought I…” Billie thought just as they heard it again. Rustling as from someone walking on dry leaves. Billie’s heart beat violently and the blood roared inside their ears. That was it. Time to hit the very bottom of the day. Squeezing their eyes shut, Billie holds their breath while listening to the noise, hoping with all their might they had been wrong. They heard the sound again; it was definitely steps on dry vegetation! The steps walked back and forth, slowly closing in on where Billie was hiding. Repeatedly, Billie prayed for the steps to give up and leave. “Don’t find me, don’t find me, don’t find me-…!”   
The steps stopped, waited a few seconds and then started to walk away. “Yes!” Billie breathed out in relief, but they had spoken too soon.  
“AHA! There you are!” 

The steps ran up towards Billie’s hiding place and pushed the branches aside. A round face with a pointy chin and big grass green eyes stared down on Billie. It wasn’t at all what Billie expected. It wasn’t a fearsome and angry adult ready to beat them up; it was a girl about Billie’s own age. The girl’s face wore an expression of triumph. “Found you” she said and grinned widely “What are you doing?”

Billie didn’t answer; they just stared at the girl, trying to keep a blank expression. 

“I saw you running out the school” the girl continued, making her way through the bushes and sat down in the grass in front of Billie. “Like, I was hiding in the girl’s toilet when I heard Peppa Pig yell after you, her voice is so annoying. And I swear it’s a wart she got there on her nose! Anyways, I’ve seen you and the other one at school. Well, at school but not at school. Are you truants?” 

“Are what?” Billie scowled 

The girl put her hands to her hips “You’re doing the skip-school thing, aren’t you?” she asked and pouted her lips.

“Yeah, so what?” Billie asked and rolled their eyes “Gonna tell on me? Go ahead! I don’t care”

The girl put her hands together and bowed slightly “Can’t I hang with you next time, please?”

Billie widened their eyes and stared down at the bowing girl. “What?”

“You two seem so cool with those clothes and your hair” the girl’s cheeks got a red tint as she gestured towards Billie’s green Mohawk “And I hate school too, it gives me headaches, but mom and dad don’t listen to me …” She lowered her gaze.

Billie tilted their head and leaned back on their hands, studying the girl who looked up at them again. Awaiting Billie’s answer, the girl finally sat dead silent. “Sheesh, she sure can talk” Billie thought and sighed quietly. They had no idea how to respond, they couldn’t decide what the girl would do. “I don’t know, it’s your choice” Billie replied as they shrugged. 

“But… wouldn’t you get annoyed by me? If I hung around with you?” 

Billie shrugged again. “I don’t mind” 

The girl gasped, her face twitching in confusion while she tried to decide how to react. “I-if that’s so…” She said, moistening her lips with her tongue. “Hi! I’m Cassandra, pleasure to meet you. I wish we could become great friends!” She said with sudden confidence and reached out a hand.

After a quick hesitation, Billie grabbed and shook Cassandra’s hand. “Billie. Maybe.” They replied and silence fell over them again for several minutes. For some reason, Billie couldn’t tear their eyes from Cassandras intensive green ones. They sparkled with confidence and determination and Billie could feel it affecting them. Not as if Cassandra was looking down on them, they felt rather encouraged. As if Cassandra was sharing her determination with them. 

“Aren’t you cold?” Cassandra brought Billie back from their deep thoughts. She nodded towards Billie’s naked arms. 

“Not really” Billie answered, but realized how much their arms were trembling. “Maybe… when you mentioned it…”

“Here!” Cass took off her red coat and reached it over to Billie. “I know it’s ugly, but it’s warm!”

Billie stared at the jacket, then at Cassandra. “Why?”

“We could take turns, if you want. Then none of us needs to freeze to death before we get home!” Cassandra gave Billie a wide smile.

“Home?” 

“Yes! My dad’s out of town for work and mum won’t be home until dinner. My brothers won’t bother us much, maybe Michael but just spray water on him, it’s very effective!” Cassandra grabbed Billie by their hand and pulled them up on their feet. “Come on, it’s not far from here!”

Not able to reply due to shock, Billie was dragged along out of the bushes and to the sidewalk. A warm feeling bubbled up around Billie’s heart and they couldn’t prevent a smile to be spread across their lips. It was a funny feeling, one that they hadn’t felt many times before. Pleasant, maybe a little ticklish. They had no idea what it was, but they loved it. Walking side by side with Cassandra, who talked happily about everything between sky and earth. Billie knew. They knew that this was the best birthday ever.

The End.


End file.
